Fiberglassing Overhead

Greetings -

I recently replaced my gas tank on my Wellcraft 32 Coastal. The only way to get the tank out was to cut the deck. When I cut the deck, I felt like I was murdering my mother with a circular saw.

Anyway, I now need to get underneath and matte over the areas I cut. I can access most of the area, but getting the matte to stay overhead has been a pain.

Does anyone have any suggestions how to fiberglass over your head? After trying this I know I need some guidance on how to do this.

Thanks,
Scott

 

Dont know the boat, but if i was doing that id glass some flanges & perimeter rebate in then bond the sucker down, failing that you could pre wet your glass in like bandages on peel ply & then apply overhead more easily- you can even roll some fabrics onto suitable lengths of 90 mm storm pipe for ease of hanleing.Jeff.

 

I had a similar problem when recoring the deck of a boat from inside. I found that applying the epoxy first and letting it get tacky before applying the cloth helps but I still had corners start to seperate. I went to the local Walmart and got a piece of open cell foam like you would use in a pillow or matress. I put peel ply over the foam and proped it up against the under side of the deck with a plywood backing and some 2x4 s. It works well for small areas but the curvature of the deck limits the size.

 

It's easier if you don't make the layup resin rich and use smaller pieces of glass. Just use enough resin to wet out the glass, add more if needed after it's in place and holding well, one layer of glass should be easy, two a little harder, more layers and it can be very difficult if it's in a hard to reach area.

 

Glassing Overhead

I think the foam idea may work for my application. I could put a piece of plastic over the foam to stop the glass from bonding with it.

Thank you,
Scott

 

its easy

You lay up on "Wax Paper" and then use a door skin to contour to the under side of the deck. wedge it up in place , toss in a couple short screws and bob's your uncle.

 

door skin ...nice..I went and layed up 10 layers of mat, rolled it out on a old political yard sign (the plastic kind)..it was a no on 36 sign portland oregon readers will know what that was about..

held it on the underside of the boat with 2x4s and ceder shingles
works good soo easy...epoxys spendy..

 

what does your boat think of 36? Is it a politically correct hull now???

 

Thought for the future

I frequently have to correct a boat problem that involves cutting the deck. I really do not care to stand on my head trying to glass the bottom side. I layup a fiberglas / epoxy sheet on the layup table and cut it into strips about 4 inches wide. With the hole now visible and available it is very easy to sand the underside of the perimeter about 3 inches wide. Sand the mating surfaces of the strips and clamp them in place after applying moderately filled epoxyto form a 1 inch flange. Allow them to set hard and sand (prepare) the exposed flange as well as grinding the edges of the removed panel. Over grind the underside of the panel to allow for the next step. Cut strips of fiberglas mat to fill both the overground area and to fill the crack left from the saw cut and reinstall the removed section by wetting the mat with Epoxy, carefully place it around the edges, squeeze a fair sized bead of Epoxy paste along the corner and ease the panel back in place. put weights on the panel to perfectly align the deck surfaces and when cured you will only need to do a small amount of work to finish the deck surface.
Hope this gives you some thoughts for future work..... Russ

 

Working overhead is no problem.
Our method is to use a 7 inch roller frame , and cut 9 inch rollers into 3 equal pieces.

Use the 3 inch roller piece on the end of the 7 inch frame , EZ to reach into tight spots , and knock off as it cures.

A "Steel roller" (defender) is needed to help remove air bubbles and compact the layup a bit.

50/50 (glass resin by weight) is about as light as you can go , and still have everything stay in place while curing.Vynelester or Polly will work fine if you sand the old bonding surfaces to 85% glass showing.

"but getting the matte to stay overhead has been a pain."

Roll the area with heavy resin, lay the matt on and steel roll into the resin. Then add as much resin an needed to finish. 3/4 oz matt is easier to lay up overhead than the usual 1 1/2 oz.


FAST FRED

 

this weeks fun.

Im going to use a Rotozip, cut out the area I need to and then make the cleats as you say, drop in a secondary layup using corecell, and then plop the deck piece back in. C'est tout. :idea:

 

kidd, you just saved 2 days work

I am sure you will like saving a couple of days work, good for you

 

As the plot thickens

Well we rotozipped and zipped and zipped until we were tunnelling above old tabbed in bulkheads. Now I am going to try to spray foam into the voids that we cant possbily reach into and hope like %^&&* that it holds. Then bonding the corecell where we can reach and using an extendable drywall support from Homeless Depot to hold everything in place till it kicks. Then of course some matt and roving to complete my sandwich, a little headliner and Beths your aunt. I hope. The black moldy looking spots are Balsa Core which had the consistency of Grits and smelled like,, well you know.

 

Hey, I just posted this address at another thread and realized many of you might like it.
I would like to suggest a source of good information for all your needs. See the Sourcebook!
GO TO "WWW.COMPOSITESWORLD.COM"
You will find a lot geared to aircraft but many of the material are the same now. CHEERS, Russ

 

Notice how the resind fills the voids

we started to place the coring in the guest cabin after removing the rotten balsa. Typical scenario, grind till you cant see, vacuum, wash with acetone, wet out and now heres the secret. I have an adjustable pole to hold up the door skins and core until it kicks. note to self, resin does not look good after dripping on your moustache.